YOUNGSTERS walking home from school had to cross a stream of sewage when blocked drains spilled waste onto Winsford streets and footpaths.

But United Utilities has blamed the spill on local takeaways, which it says clogged the drains.

The company sent maintenance teams to unblock drains at Denbigh Drive early on Thursday morning. But that afternoon youngsters leaving Over Hall Community School and Woodford Lodge High School were forced around - and in some cases to jump across - raw sewage as the work had not been completed.

Winsford resident Marjorie Lumb, who witnessed the spill as she left the nearby Cheviot Centre, said: 'The smell was terrible. There was sewage all across the footpath and pavement, but to make matters worse, children were having to leap over it to cross Denbigh Drive to catch buses home.'

United Utilities put cones down when they saw what was happening, but Mrs Lumb said: 'It all seemed a bit late - the sewage was already there by then and people had to walk around in its smell and the children still had to get home somehow.

'It seemed like they were bringing stuff out of the drains with a pipe, but the pipe was on a slope and of course the sewage was just slipping down, onto the path and towards the Cheviot Centre. Not only that, there are chip shops and takeaways nearby, so we were pretty concerned about the health and safety issues.'

A United Utilities spokeswoman said the incident could have been avoided altogether if businesses followed its advice on drainage.

The spokeswoman said: 'This was caused by a large blockage in the sewer, mainly made up of animal fat. It looks as though people have emptied hot fat into the drains, where it has cooled and caused the blockage.

'The blockage was so large that we had to recall the original waste machinery which we sent on Wednesday and send a larger machine out on Thursday. We will follow this up with the environmental health department, visiting businesses to explain how to avoid such issues in future.'